They were modern men, the soldiers of the Jacobite Rising of 1745: doctors and lawyers, students and teachers, gardeners and weavers.
These are the men often written out of history, or else depicted as gallant but misguided fools.
But in reality they were children of the Age of Reason, they wrote poetry, discussed the latest ideas in philosophy and science – and rose in armed rebellion against the might of the British crown and government.
Combining meticulous research with entertaining and stylish delivery, these are the dramatic and moving stories of the men who were willing to risk everything for their vision of a better future for themselves, their families and Scotland.
Bare-Arsed Banditti by Maggie Craig is published in a new edition on 10 March, 2022.
Her companion book, Damn’ Rebel Bitches, is published on the same day.
Maggie has written about researching her books in the days when records weren’t as easily accessible on the net as they are now in Damn’ Rebel Bitches: Research Then and Now.
She’s also written about other Jacobite risings for Historia in The Battle of Killiecrankie and 1719: the forgotten Jacobite rising.
And, to mark the publication of One Week In April in 2020, she looks at another insurrection in The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820.
If you’re interested in Jacobite history and the 45, you may also like Frances Owen’s features on the subject:
Raising the Jacobite standard: Glenfinnan, 1745
Remembering Culloden
Five surprising facts about Charles Edward Stuart
And Angus Donald writes about earlier events, at the beginning of the Jacobite period, in:
Why the Glorious Revolution was . . . well, neither
The never-ending Battle of the Boyne
